Maternal, Child Sugar Intake Could Impact Child Cognition

TUESDAY, May 1, 2018 (HealthDay News) -- Greater sugar consumption during pregnancy and early childhood may adversely impact child cognition, according to a study published online April 16 in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.

Juliana F.W. Cohen, Sc.D., from Merrimack College in North Andover, Mass., and colleagues studied 1,234 mother-child pairs enrolled in Project Viva (1999 to 2002), a pre-birth cohort. Diet during pregnancy and early childhood was assessed, as were cognitive outcomes in early and mid-childhood (median ages, 3.3 and 7.7 years).

The researchers found that maternal sucrose consumption was inversely associated with mid-childhood Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (KBIT-II) non-verbal scores (−1.5 points per 15 grams/day). In addition, maternal consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) was inversely associated with mid-childhood cognition. An association between maternal diet soda consumption and mid-childhood KBIT-II verbal scores remained significant even after adjusting for multiple comparisons. There was an inverse association between early childhood consumption of SSBs and mid-childhood KBIT-II verbal scores (−2.4 points per serving/day), whereas fruit consumption was associated with higher cognitive scores in early and mid-childhood. There was no association between cognition and maternal and child fructose and juice consumption.